Russia, locked in a battle with breakaway Chechnya so bloody it has drawn criticism at home and abroad, has nonetheless won praise from the world's biggest trade body.


The head of the World Trade Organization said Russia had taken big steps towards reform after seven decades of communist rule and that it should join the 81-member group as soon as possible.


The organization's director general, Peter Sutherland of Ireland, said it was too early to predict when negotiations would be completed for Russia to join the trade body, which succeeded the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.


But he said he was hopeful rapid progress could be made.


"It is a matter of signal importance that Russia should be part of the WTO at the earliest possible date," Sutherland told a news conference at the end of a two-day visit to Moscow.


"There is in a sense a contradiction in terms in having a World Trade Organization which excludes Russia," he said.


Deputy Prime Minister Oleg Davydov, speaking Friday after a one-hour meeting with Sutherland, had said Russia may not join before April next year.


Russia, which inherited GATT observer status from the former Soviet Union, officially asked to join GATT in 1993.


Sutherland stressed that Russia's accession to the new body was not going to happen immediately.


"It requires the specific binding commitments to market opening, to the liberalization of trade both in goods and services, and the protection of intellectual property into the future," he said.


"This is not a negotiation that can be concluded on the back of an envelope," he said.


Sutherland said his talks with Russian leaders -- including President Boris Yeltsin, Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin and Ivan Rybkin, chairman of the parliament's lower chamber -- had made clear that the reform process was ongoing.


The new body is to absorb during 1995 the functions of the 124-nation GATT. Its 81 founding members, which include the United States, the 15-nation European Union, Japan and Canada, are said to control 90 percent of international trade.


Sutherland said Saturday that an initial memorandum on Russia's accession had been prepared. Russia's major trading partners had raised some 400 questions which had been put before the Russian government and authorities.


"We have received preliminary drafts of replies to these questions which cover all aspects of policy development in economic and trading affairs within Russia," he said.


He hoped that a working party would shortly begin a detailed examination of all parties' negotiation positions.


Sutherland said his talks with Russian leaders had made it clear there was enormous evidence of reform which appeared irreversible, and set positive preconditions for the favorable conclusion of talks.


Tribute should be paid to Russia, which had taken hard decisions towards improving competition in its economy after seven decades of communist rule, he said.


Sutherland declined to comment on Russia's fight to crush Chechnya's independence bid, saying it would be inappropriate for him to do so.